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A look at key moments this past week in the wrongful death trial in Los Angeles between Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, and concert giant AEG Live LLC, and what is expected at court in the week ahead:
THE CASE Jackson's mother wants a jury to determine that the promoter of Jackson's planned comeback concerts didn't properly investigate Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a criminal jury for Jackson's June 2009 death. AEG's attorney says the case is about personal choice, namely Jackson's decision to have Murray serve as his doctor and give him doses of a powerful anesthetic as a sleep aid. Millions, possibly billions, of dollars are at stake.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS PAST WEEK An addiction and pain management expert, Dr. Sidney Schnoll, told jurors that there was no evidence in Jackson's medical records he reviewed that the singer was addicted to prescription medications. He told the panel that with proper treatment, Jackson could have lived a long life and continued to perform.
Jurors heard from a human resources expert, Jean Seawright, who said AEG Live should have performed a comprehensive background check on Murray before agreeing to allow him to work on the Jackson's tour. She said the former cardiologist's initial $5 million request, and his expected $150,000 a month payday, were red flags and more investigation was warranted.
WHAT THE JURY SAW A large, three-panel display of Jackson's history of medical treatments, including administrations of the anesthetic propofol dating back to 1997.
The judge throw up her arms after an attorney for Katherine Jackson asked Seawright whether she had an opinion on whether AEG Live hired Conrad Murray, a key point in the case. Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos stopped the proceedings to address the jury and tell them that they were the ones who would determine whether Murray was hired by the concert promoter.
QUOTABLE MOMENTS "Since he was going into treatment, I can only assume he didn't want to be a drug dependent person," Schnoll said regarding Jackson and his decision to enter rehab for prescription drug issues in 1993.
"It was a red flag to me at the beginning of the process," Seawright said of Murray's initial fee request and agreement to work with Jackson for $150,000 a month.
OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM Jackie Jackson said his niece Paris Jackson is going to be fine and is getting better after being hospitalized last month for taking Motrin pills and cutting her arm with a kitchen knife. Jackie Jackson made his comments before the premiere of the Michael Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil show "One" in Las Vega.
WHAT'S NEXT Michael Jackson's nephew Taj Jackson is expected to resume testifying.


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The Hasso Plattner Institute offers a practically-oriented computer science study program at an internationally recognized institute. This study includes the Germany-wide unique IT-Systems Engineering program and the five master programs Cybersecurity, Data Engineering, Digital Health, IT-Systems Engineering and Software Systems Engineering.
Research at the Hasso Plattner Institute is characterized by standards of scientific excellence, practical relevance and close cooperation with industry and society. Outstanding research results are achieved in the fields of specialization, in excellent research programs and at the international Research School.
The Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam is unique on the German academic landscape. The institute's program continues to grow with the support of its founder Hasso Plattner and through international cooperation. Find out more about the founder, events and studies at HPI.
The Hasso Plattner Institute has educational programs for both high school students and working professionals. It operates its own IT learning platform - openHPI - which provides free online courses. The Youth Academy organizes computer science camps and events for high school students. Professionals can take advantage of educational opportunities in the field of Design Thinking at the HPI Academy.
The press area of the Hasso Plattner Institute provides you with the latest press material, news, information on our social media channels and contact details.

subset: commoncrawl


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Kadir Nelson, a four-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award, lost the more prestigious Caldecott medal — again — on Monday
By Janice Harayda
Kadir Nelson may have won more honors than any of the most recent candidates for Caldecott medal, given by the American Library Association each year to "the most distinguished American picture book for children." His paintings have appeared in museums and galleries around the world and on U.S. postage stamps, including two that celebrate Negro League baseball.
But when the ALA named the winners of its 2012 awards on Monday, Nelson didn't get the Caldecott for his Heart and Soul, as many had expected. He won his fourth Coretta Scott King Award, which only black authors or illustrators may receive. The King award is a high honor but one with less prestige and impact on sales than a Caldecott medal. And Nelson's award has revived a debate about whether the ALA is ghetto-izing the black authors and illustrators who qualify for the identity-based prizes that it gives out along with honors open to all. Are writers and artists who look like shoo-ins for a King award being denied the Caldecott and Newbery medals that can have a much greater impact on their careers?
The answer should be no. Library-association judging committees deliberate independently. And authors can win awards in more than one ALA category, as when Nelson received a King award and a Sibert prize for "the most distinguished informational book for children" for We Are the Ship. But the reality is less clear-cut, as the blogger and novelist Mitali Perkins noted in explaining why she hoped the library group wouldn't create an award for authors of Asian descent like her:
"The existence of such an award for Asian-Americans may inadvertently or sub-consciously knock books out of the running for prizes like the Newbery or the Printz. ('Oh, that title's sure to be nominated for a Super Asian Writer Award …,' said the committee member to herself as she crossed Kira-Kira off her list of finalists.)"
Such possibilities may involve a cruel paradox for black superstars like Nelson: The better those authors and illustrators are, they more likely they are to look like shoo-ins for a King award. And the less likely they are to get what they deserve, if judges subconsciously or inadvertently relegate them to lesser prizes. Nelson's many nonlibrary honors don't mean that he automatically deserves a Caldecott medal. Designing a postage stamp isn't the same as creating a picture book that involves the flow of words and pictures.
But author Marc Aronson is right that the ALA is tumbling down "a very slippery slope" with its profusion of identity-based prizes. Aronson notes that when the ALA launched the King award in 1969, "no black artist or author had won major recognition from ALA (Arna Bontemps's Story of the Negro, a 1949 Newbery Honor Book, aside), and there were relatively few African Americans working in the field." That situation has changed greatly, he adds: The U.S. now has a "steadily growing group of African-American artists that every important publisher, large and small, seeks to publish" and independent presses devoted to their work. If the Coretta Scott King Award helped to change that, it has also brought new risks for black authors and illustrators and for awards judges. As Aronson notes:
"The danger in every award that sets limits on the kinds of people, or types of book, that can win it is that it diminishes the pressure on the larger awards, the Newbery and the Caldecott, to live up to their charge to seek the most distinguished children's books of the year."
In a post that predicted the 2012 Caldecott winners, the influential librarian and School Library Journal blogger Elizabeth Bird wrote that "We all know that Kadir deserves to win one of these days." It's fair to ask: Would "one of these days" have arrived by now if the ALA hadn't been able to give Nelson the Coretta Scott King Award?
This is the first of two posts on the winners of the 2012 Caldecott medal and the three Honor Book citiations. The second post deals with the shutout for women in the awards.
Jan Harayda is an award-winning critic and former vice-president for awards of the National Book Critics Circle. You can follow her on Twitter by clicking on the "Follow" button in the sidebar on this site.


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LibreOffice version 4.0 came out today, with project organizers boasting a "cleaner and leaner code base" along with various new features and greater interoperability with business systems and document formats.
LibreOffice was launched in 2010 to overtake OpenOffice as the preeminent open source office suite. Google Docs may still be the biggest threat to Microsoft Office, but LibreOffice has carved out a niche for itself, becoming the default productivity software on many popular Linux distributions.
Cleaning up the code has been a major focus. "The resulting code base is rather different from the original one, as several million lines of code have been added and removed, by adding new features, solving bugs and regressions, adopting state of the art C++ constructs, replacing tools, getting rid of deprecated methods and obsoleted libraries, and translating twenty-five thousand lines of comments from German to English," the Document Foundation said in its LibreOffice 4.0 announcement. "All of this makes the code easier to understand and more rewarding to be involved with for the stream of new members of our community."
Better interoperability wtih DOCX and RTF documents is in LibreOffice 4.0, as is integration with numerous content and document management systems. There is also a new Android app for controlling presentations. There is an Android port of LibreOffice in the works, but there wasn't any update on that project today.
Here's a more complete list of new features, courtesy of the Document Foundation:
- Integration with several content and document management systems - including Alfresco, IBM FileNet P8, Microsoft Sharepoint 2010, Nuxeo, OpenText, SAP NetWeaver Cloud Service and others - through the CMIS standard.
- Better interoperability with DOCX and RTF documents, thanks to several new features and improvements like the possibility of importing ink annotations and attaching comments to text ranges.
- Possibility to import Microsoft Publisher documents, and further improvement of Visio import filters with the addition of 2013 version (just announced).
- Additional UI incremental improvements, including Unity integration and support of Firefox Themes (Personas) to give LibreOffice a personalized look.
- Introduction of the widget layout technique for dialog windows, which makes it easier to translate, resize and hide UI elements, reduces code complexity, and lays a foundation for a much improved user interface.
- Different header and footer on the first page of a Writer document, without the need of a separate page style.
- Several performance improvements to Calc, plus new features such as export of charts as images (JPG and PNG) and new spreadsheet functions as defined in ODF OpenFormula.
- First release of Impress Remote Control App for Android, supported only on some Linux distributions. (The second release, coming soon, will be supported on all platforms: Windows, MacOS X and all Linux distros and binaries.)
- Significant performance improvements when loading and saving many types of documents, with particular improvements for large ODS and XLSX spreadsheets and RTF files.
- Improved code contribution thanks to Gerrit: a web-based code review system, facilitating the task for projects using Git version control system (although this is not specific of LibreOffice 4.0, it has entered the production stage just before the 4.0 branch).
There are also a number of API changes that might be of interest to developers. LibreOffice itself can be downloaded at the project's home page.


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9253. Cartier | Tonneau, A yellow gold wristwatch, Circa 1989 | 卡地亞 | Tonneau 黃金腕錶,約1989年製
Lot Closed
April 29, 02:53 AM GMT
Lot Details
A yellow gold wristwatch, Circa 1989
Dial: silvered
Calibre: mechanical, jewelled
Case: 18k yellow gold, case back secured by 4 screws
Case number: A 111168
Closure: brown unsigned leather strap and 18k yellow gold Cartier buckle
Size: 21 width
Signed: case, dial and movement
The movement is in working condition at the time of cataloguing. The dial is in a very attractive vintage condition with slight discolouration at 2 o'clock. The bezel with extremely light signs of wear throughout and tiny pinhead dings at places. The band is in great overall condition with light wear to the screws. The case back with light signs of wear toward the edges and the hallmarks is slightly rubbed. Otherwise, the watch is in good overall condition for it's age. The buckle with very light wear throughout. Please note that the movement has not been tested for the accuracy of time and may need a service at the buyer's expense. Sotheby's does not guarantee the future working of the movement and we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. You are advised that watch straps or bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator or crocodile) are not sold with the watch and we reserve the right to remove these straps or bands prior to shipping. Furthermore, the watch may not come with its original manufacturers strap or band. Prospective bidders should review the Conditions of Business, Authenticity Guarantee, the Guide for Prospective Buyers, and any Important Notice in the sale catalogue.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping."


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Getting Around
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Topic: 3 of 3
Wisdom: In Ministry Affairs
There is a deception that clouds the minds of men, so that they cannot see or accept the truth of God.
It takes divine wisdom to cut through this deception. Ask God to provide the wisdom that comes down from above.
Job 12:13 To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
Thank You, God that there is no mystery hidden from You. You see all and know all, Lord. Hallelujah. Your word says that wisdom and power, counsel and understanding belong to You.
I pray over
Turk of Turkey
today that You would guard him from making decisions by his own understanding, but that in all his ways he would acknowledge You. Provide Your wisdom and Your counsel for the decisions he faces in his ministry. Walk with him and bless
Turk of Turkey
with Your fellowship and wisdom. Give him a keen sense of Your guidance, Lord and encourage his heart today as he listens to You.
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The Devil You Know . . .
Posted by The Situationist Staff on January 23, 2008
The paperback version of (Situationist contributor) Phil Zimbardo's bestselling book, The Lucifer Effect, is now available! To mark the event, we're posting a recent essay, "The Evil Crowd," by Professor Zimbardo. The uplifting essay explains why knowing the sources of evil may help us to better confront it.
* * *
Why do good, ordinary people sometimes become perpetrators of evil? The most extreme transformation of this kind is, of course, the story of God's favorite angel, Lucifer – a story that has set the context for my psychological investigations into lesser human transformations in response to the corrosive influence of powerful situational forces.
Such forces exist in many common behavioral contexts, distorting our usual good nature by pushing us to engage in deviant, destructive, or evil behavior. When embedded in new and unfamiliar settings, our habitual ways of thinking, feeling, and acting no longer function to sustain the moral compass that has guided us reliably in the past.
Over the past three decades, my research and that of my colleagues has demonstrated the relative ease with which ordinary people can be led to behave in ways that qualify as evil. We have put research participants in experiments where powerful situational forces – anonymity, group pressures, or diffusion of personal responsibility – led them blindly to obey authority and to aggress against innocent others after dehumanizing them.
My recent book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil describes the radical transformations that took place among college students playing randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison created at Stanford University. It goes on to establish direct parallels with the abuses committed by American soldiers at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, presenting much of the social science research illustrating the power of social situations to dominate individual dispositions.
This body of work challenges the traditional focus on the individual's inner nature, dispositions, and personality traits as the primary – and often the sole – factors in understanding human failings. Instead, I argue that while most people are good most of the time, they can readily be led to act anti-socially, because most people are rarely solitary figures improvising soliloquies on the empty stage of life.
On the contrary, people are often in an ensemble of different players, on a stage with various props, costumes, scripts, and stage directions from producers and directors. Together, they comprise situational features that can dramatically influence behavior. What individuas bring into any setting is important, but so are the situational forces that act on them, as well as the systemic forces that create and maintain situations.
Most institutions that are invested in an individualistic orientation hold up the person as sinner, culpable, afflicted, insane, or irrational. Programs of change follow either a medical model of rehabilitation, therapy, reeducation, and treatment, or a punitive model of incarceration and execution. But all such programs are doomed to fail if the main causal agent is the situation or system, not the person.
As a result, two kinds of paradigm shift are required. First, we need to adopt a public health model for prevention of violence, spouse abuse, bullying, prejudice, and more that identifies vectors of social disease to be inoculated against. Second, legal theory must reconsider the extent to which powerful situational and systemic factors should be taken into account in punishing individuals.
Although much of The Lucifer Effect examines how easy it is for ordinary people to be seduced into engaging in evil deeds, or to be passively indifferent to the suffering of others, the deeper message is a positive one. It is by understanding the how and why of such deeds that we are in a better position to uncover, oppose, defy, and triumph over them. By becoming more "evil smart," we build up resistance to having our moral compass reset negatively.
In this sense, The Lucifer Effect is a celebration of the human capacity to choose kindness over cruelty, caring over indifference, creativity over destructiveness, and heroism over villainy. At the end of my narrative, I invite readers to consider fundamental strategies of resisting and challenging unwanted social influences, and I introduce the notion of "the banality of heroism." After all, most heroes are ordinary people who engage in extra-ordinary moral actions.
With this in mind, I propose a situational perspective for heroism, just as I do for evil: the same situation that can inflame the hostile imagination and evil in some of us can inspire the heroic imagination in others. We must teach people, especially our children, to think of themselves as "heroes-in-waiting," ready to take heroic action in a particular situation that may occur only once in their lifetime.
* * *
For other Situationist posts discussing The Lucifer Effect, click here. To buy the paperback version of the book, click here.
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This entry was posted on January 23, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Book, Law, Legal Theory, Morality, Social Psychology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to "The Devil You Know . . ."
October 13, 2008 at 1:01 am
[…] instinctual moral focus on "bad people" has been linked to our resistance to situational explanations for bad behavior and our preference for punishments that reflect what […]


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October 17, 2016
For Immediate Release: October 17, 2016 (Santa Fe, NM) The Museum of International Folk Art presents No Idle Hands: The Myths & Meanings of Tramp Art, the first large-scale museum exhibition dedicated to tramp art since 1975. The exhibition will present more than 150 examples of tramp art, concentrating on works from the United States, with additional examples from France, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Canada, Mexico and Brazil to demonstrate the far reach this art form has had. Additionally, the show will analyze and dismantle the myths and misperceptions about tramp art, particularly as they relate to assumptions related to class, quality, and the anonymity of the makers. No Idle Hands opens on March 12, 2017 and remains on display through September 16, 2018.
Tramp art describes a particular type of chip-carved woodwork that was practiced in Europe and the United States between the 1870s and 1940s, making use of discarded cigar boxes or crates that were then notch-carved along the edges and layered. Objects made were primarily boxes and frames, but other household objects such as small private altars, crosses, medicine cabinets, wall pockets, clock cases, plant stands, and even furniture can be found.
"Tramp art's place in art history has been troublesome. It has had detractors—people who regard it as 'the ugly duckling' of folk art—but also numerous champions," said Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art at the Museum of International Folk Art, and the show's curator. "This exhibition will erase any doubts about the quality and craftsmanship of the work and situate tramp art as a practice at the crossroads of cultural transformation at the turn of the 20th century," she said. Addison also pointed out that by juxtaposing historic pieces with those by contemporary artists working in the tramp art style, the exhibition frames this art form as an ongoing tradition that continues to capture the public's imagination—myths and all.
"The ingenious objects in the Tramp Art exhibition use recycled or repurposed wood, and highlight a moment in time a century ago when artisans, many of them immigrants to the US, created a new variety of folk art," said Khristaan D. Villela, Director of the Museum of International Folk Art. "They are a testament to the ability of untrained artists to produce objects of immense beauty and complexity," he said.
For many years, tramp art was believed to have been made by itinerants and hobos, thus its name. It has been demonstrated, however, that this belief, first put in print by Frances Lichten in a 1959 Pennsylvania Folklife article, is erroneous. Nonetheless, the name "tramp art" has remained the only terminology used for this practice, and the paucity of scholarly studies to dispel the mistaken notions about tramp art have allowed the myths to persist.
Whittling objects such as wood chains and ball-in-cage whimsies was a common pastime, including among railriding "hobos," and some examples of tramp art were likely by the hand of itinerant laborers or artisans. However, this style of carving was more commonly the practice of family men and blue-collar factory workers making functional domestic objects or gifts for the women in their lives. Efforts have been made in recent years to identify makers by name and unearth their biographies; these personal narratives illustrate a very different story of the makers of tramp art. As these makers and their stories come to light, it has become obvious that home and family are central to an understanding of the practice of tramp art.
No Idle Hands will present tramp art objects according to four primary areas: Introduction/historical context, home & nation, frames & boxes and devotional objects. Works in the exhibition will come from the Museum of International Folk Art permanent collection as well as loans from a number of private and museum collections across the country. An exhibition publication will accompany the exhibition, with essays by Laura Addison, Curator of North American & European Folk Art, Museum of International Folk Art; Leslie Umberger, a curator in the area of folk art and self-taught art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and Eric Zafran, a retired curator of European art, most recently at the Wadsworth Atheneum.
The Museum of International Folk Art Museum Shop is located in the museum at 706 Camino Lejo (Museum Hill just off Old Santa Fe Trail). 505-982-5186.
Media contact:
Jennifer Padilla
The Museum of International Folk Art is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Museum of International Folk Art's mission is "to enrich the human spirit by connecting people with the arts, traditions and cultures of the world." Founded in 1953 by Florence Dibell Bartlett, the museum holds the world's largest international folk art collection of more than 150,000 objects from six continents and over 150 nations.
The museum's collections represent a broad range of global artists whose artistic expressions make Santa Fe an international crossroads of culture. For many visitors, fascination with folk art begins upon seeing the whimsical toys and traditional objects within the Girard Collection. For others, the international textiles, ceramics, carvings and other cultural treasures in the Neutrogena Collection provide the allure. The museum's historic and contemporary Latino and Hispano folk art collections, spanning the Spanish Colonial period to modern-day New Mexico, reflect how artists respond to their time and place in ways both delightful and sobering. In 2010, the museum opened the Mark Naylor and Dale Gunn Gallery of Conscience, where exhibitions encourage visitors to exchange ideas on complex issues of human rights and social justice.
Over 90,000 national and international visitors visit the Museum International Folk Art every year. Through folk art, the museum encourages all to find a common ground upon which to craft better lives for all.
Museum exhibitions and programs are supported by donors to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and its Director's Leadership Fund, Exhibitions Development Fund, and Fund for Museum Education, as well as by the International Folk Art Foundation, also established by museum founder Florence Dibell Bartlett.


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When I stopped by to visit Japanese Art curator Robert T. Singer and see the newly acquired screen by seventeenth-century artist Kano Sansetsu, he was second-guessing the title he'd given the work: Tiger Drinking from a Raging River. "Is 'raging' too strong?" he asked me. "Should it be a roiling river?"
The fact is there was no official title for this work prior to its acquisition. The two-panel screen was discovered in 2006 in an English country house. Rob estimates that it might have been in England for at least the last 100 years. When it was brought back to Japan, the NHK (think "the BBC of Japan") documented its arrival and followed the scholar Tsuji Nobuo as he looked closely at the screen for the first time, to determine whether or not it was a genuine work by the great Sansetsu. Here's a clip from the broadcast.
You can see Professor Tsuji set a book next to the screen, comparing the style of the tiger to another work by Sansetsu. Rob translated for me that, after careful consideration, Professor Tsuji declares the work "without doubt, a genuine work by Sansetsu." (It doesn't hurt that the artist's signature is in the top left corner.)
In the four years since its discovery, Sansetsu's screen has been published in numerous textbooks on Japanese art. In one book it was titled, simply, Tiger. In another it was more elaborately labeled Tiger Drinking Water. Rob felt that neither was appropriately descriptive. This was a tiger daringly stealing a sip before the river water might splash or drench it. You can see from its curved back and rolling eyes that it is apprehensive. Rob wanted to get the dangerous nature of the image across in the title, though now he wondered whether he'd overstated it with "raging."
Then again, one might ask: Is this a tiger? Is that a river?
The answers are a qualified yes and probably. In the seventeenth century there were no tigers in Japan. Though the animal loomed large in the Eastern zodiac and yin-yang cosmology—both concepts imported from China, where large cats roam—Japanese artists depended on descriptions from their more well-traveled peers. So, this tiger has the paws and tail of a leopard. (We also have a thirteenth-century elephant—another animal that didn't exist in Japan—which looks a bit more like a puppy, with a short trunk and, as Rob describes, "the butt of a water buffalo.")
Too, what river has waves like that? Is this tiger sipping from the ocean? "I don't think so," said Rob. "What animals drink salt water?" Even if Sansetsu didn't know the accurate details of the tiger's paws, he would not have turned the image into total fantasy. So, it is a tiger, and it drinks from a river. Thus we return to that last nagging word, raging. Finally Rob decided that it was appropriate. It's an adversarial image—the river is squarely on one panel of the screen, the tiger on the other; the tiger is poised on a rocky edge as it nips at the water, and the waves are many—they stretch into the distance almost like a mountain range. Were you take a raft to that river, "raging waters" would probably describe your experience.


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Professor Nick Russo (guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, dobro/resonator/slide, tenor guitar, baritone resonator, bass, drums, composition) is currently the adjunct music professor at Essex College, Jazz clinician for over 19 years via Kupferberg Center (Queens College) and has been on the staff at Great Neck Music Conservatory. Nick has given lectures at Manhattanville College, at Queens College and at schools, nationally.
Are you a Mandolin teacher looking for more students? Let us help you fill your studio today!Learn More


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*Credit/savings accumulate over the life of the program


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A charming — yes, charming — biography of an "ex-homeless, ex-junkie psychopath"
Stuart: A Life Backwards. By Alexander Masters. Delacorte, 300 pp., $20.
By Janice Harayda
Suppose that you had just slogged through ten of the year's worst books and wanted to read one that would rekindle your faith in authors and publishers. Suppose – in other words – that you were me and needed something that would induce temporary amnesia for words like "Dr. Phil," "Mitch Albom" and "human shish kabob scene by Thomas Harris." What book would you choose?
I picked up Stuart, a recent finalist for a National Book Critics Circle award that I loved when I started it last year but kept having to return to the library because people were on the waiting list. "Charming" isn't a word often applied to books about "an ex-homeless, ex-junkie psychopath," as Alexander Masters describes his subject. But it fits this biography of an intelligent and self-aware but physically and mentally impaired man – half Jekyll, half Hyde — whom the author got to know when both were living in or near Cambridge, England.
Masters has enriched his book with quirky, New Yorker-ish line drawings of Stuart Clive Shorter and others in which people's heads seem too big for their bodies. And whether or not the distortion was intentional, it's a fine metaphor for the man vibrantly alive on its pages: Stuart was a someone whose brain always seemed to be about to burst out of his body and, apparently, in the end, did.
Recommended … without reservations.
Best line: "The moment of transition is one of the great mysteries of homelessness. At what point does a person change from being inside his house to being outside all houses? When does he go from being one of us to one of them? I can imagine being desperate; I can see being up against the wall, bills dropping in the letter box, wife in bed with the bailiff … what I can't see is the point at which I think to myself, 'Bother! Homeless!' and genuinely believe it … Is this why outreach workers say that it is so important to catch new homeless people within a few weeks of ending up on the streets, maximum, because otherwise they will start to build up a new sense of belonging, to the street community, because they are human and must have companionship, and thereafter it is a hundred times harder to get them back where they started, among the rest of us?"
Worst line: Masters tells us on the first page that Stuart disliked an early draft of this biography and urged him to make the book "like what Tom Clancy writes." Later Masters writes that the phrase was "like a murder mystery what Tom Clancy writes." The discrepancy may exist because Masters and Stuart had more than on conversation about the story. But it makes you wonder if a few quotes, or more, were massaged, though this is otherwise a highly credible book.
Editor: Nicholas Pearson
Published: June 2006. Paperback to be published by Delta in May 2007.
Links: Author's site (which shows some of the illustrations): http://www.alexandermasters.net/new/ [Note: SNAP Preview is enabled on One-Minute Book Reviews. This means that you can see an example of the art in Stuart just by putting your cursor on the preceding link to Masters's site. You don't have to click on the link and go to his site.] Publisher's site: www.bantamdell.com
Reading group guide: A Totally Unauthorized Reading Group Guide to Stuart appears in the March 22, 2007, post directly below this one and is archived with the March posts.
Furthermore: Stuart won the Guardian First Book Award and was a finalist for several others, including the National Book Critics Circle award for autobiography http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com.
© 2007 Janice Harayda. All rights reserved.


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For the latest updates to Global Public Square, including show information and Fareed's Take, visit the new GPS site on CNN.com.
Howdy faux pas Cristobal. You too like Blue Saffron chocolate pudding s hitt, eh chap! Enjoy.
Love India. .bless wonderful India.
We all just agree that India is great!
Modi was rayped by a YAK while having chai in a tent in Mongolia. He gave birth to a Llama.
For the life of me why doesn't that baboon Modi just marry the Yak.
Is he still eating Blue's s hiet?
rupert, go sukk wind in Goa and gang raype for all I care.
Modi is a wonderful man. .a master of all that is good
God bless him
@833 banasy...I fully agree. India is truly amazing and beautiful. .
Love it or leave it!
Ler's go visit Hinduworld. We will defecate on sidewalks. We will p iss on roads. We will eat what we secrete.
Raype galore. E Coli everywhere. Cannibalism rampant.
BO capital of the world. A hindu wonderland.
Incredible India !!!
The Khmer Rouge trial and guilty verdict sends a loud and clear message to all those leaders who undertook genocides. Payback time.
It is time to stand up Modi of India and send him to The Hague to face trial of murders and genocides in Gujarat et al, India ..... committed against the minorities.
We shall never forget.
Modi sukks Blue Saffron's dikk after eating his s hitte.
I fully agree Chrissy@9:12 et al.
Modi is a mother fukker
I am bobby bamboli..i love and admire P.M. Modi. He is my true hero.
I love him
Why don't you marry him then? Seems like you could use a wife! Lol
Whom do I love? I love P.M. Modi. Why? Because he is an inspiration and a true leader.
Praise Modi!
Long live beautiful India! !!
Yes bobby bamboli ...i agree. Modi is a savior
Praise India
Praise Modi
@chrissy ¥4 YAK aside (no pun intended)
Ukraine/Crimea reminds me of Indian Occupied Kashmir except that we are still waiting for India's government to hold a plebiscite there.
It took Putin a week to hold plebiscite in Crimea and Ukraine. Why is it taking India 70 years to hold plebiscite in Indian Occupied Kashmir? Putin is India's buddy. Rub your eyes! Why does not India import this technology from Russia? After all India is Russia's largest arms buyer !!!
India is beautiful. India is truly wonderful. I plan to move there by December.
Praise India.
Modi was fukked by a ram in Myanmar while visiting his boyfriend. He is pregnant with a camel called humpy.
Modi leads by example. Clean water, jobs, and great food production are only a few of the accomplishments that Modi has provided the wonderful Hindu people.
Praise India!
Modi insists on devouring Blue Saffron's s hitt which is like a mango pudding. Sweet and smooth. Ya'll should try it too. Good for your health.
Prime Minister Modi of India is an excellent leader. He is powered by the grace of God. A die hard and a diplomatic man.
No wonder that India is an amazing country with the highest GNP in that part of the world. Amazing.
When Vodka and Cow Urine meet. National beverages of Russia and India.
But Modi prefers to eat Blue Saffron's s hitte.
My goodness Stars on Mars.
Looks like you just NAILED IT!
The prime minister of India has begun 16 major projects for the infrastructure of that glorious country. Anyone or shall I say, any childish troll who would spew anti-India remarks as well as attack Modi on these pages is truly a mule of a person.
Good morning Peter. By George, looks to me like you just NAILED IT!
India is good.
Modi is good.
The one in blue spewing cra pola around here is pig sh it. LMFAO!
I am Cary Hart and I am a Hindu boy from India.
I eat Modi's big gooey moist boogers from Bombay
All I can say is that Modi is a disgrace to the human race. He happens to be from India is a celebration of that country's terrorist culture. He further happens to be a hindoo is reflective that garbage produces smelly gases.
There is a gang raype in India every 2 seconds. A world record. It is India's national sport.
Gang ra pe in India does nit exist. It is a myth and propaganda
Comparing the progress of China with India always amazes me. About same number of people but different results. Chinese raise their kids to be entrepreneurs while Indian hindus as t hugs. Just a cultural difference I suppose. Different DNA.
China 10% GDP...... India 2%
China 38 Gold medals.... India 0 (2012 olympics)
Many women from all over the world have migrated to India because there is no ra pe there.
Praise India!
111,383 killed
11,047 wounded
11,696 missing
123,968 captured
131,544 ran away to Bhutan and still are hiding scared from Chinese.
Modi eat Blue Saffron S hitt Lo Mein with ruce noodles. Ah so !
I am a Hindu boy from Bombay.
I love India and Hinduism.
Hindus are wonderful.
Hindus are marvelous.
Hindus are magnificent.
Hindus are great.
Hindus are glorious.
Hindus are most loved.
Baa, Baa, Hindoo boy, will you raipe tonight?
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, three times full
First, my mother and then my sister
And also the little (girl/boy) who lives down the lane.
Baa, Baa, hindoo boy, will you raipe tonight?
Yes, sir, Yes, sir, three times full
I just farted. A wet one too. Smells like Blue Saffron's breath LMFAO!
I eat Modi's moist gooey salty boogers imported from India.
Modi was rear ended by a Mongolian YAK.
Modi eats Blue Saffron s hitt. Calls it mango pudding.
I love India and Modi too. I praise Shiva.
Hinduism is alive and well.
95% of hindoos in India don't have toilets. They s hitt out in the fields. And therefore get rayped.


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Apple announced on Wednesday that it has dropped prices for several configurations of its 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro and 13-inch MacBook Air models. Additionally, both the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros get slightly faster processors.
Apple has dropped a few hundred dollars off the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro. The entry-level model with a 128GB SSD now starts at $1,499, down from $1,699. The 256GB SSD model now costs $1,699, down from $1,999. The higher-end model also gets a slight bump to dual-core 2.6GHz Core i5 processors, up from 2.5GHz.
The 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro sees a slight increase in its processor speeds as well, though it didn't get a price drop. The base model now comes with a quad-core 2.4GHz Core i7, up from 2.3GHz. The top-end model now comes with a 2.7GHz quad-core processor, up from 2.6GHz. It also comes standard with 16GB of RAM. Prices are the same at $2,199 and $2,799 respectively, but you do get a little more for your money.
Finally, the 13-inch MacBook Air with a 256GB SSD costs $100 less, starting at $1,399.
All models are now available to order online, and according to Apple all configurations are available today from the Apple Store and authorized resellers.
When we originally reviewed the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, we noted that the hardware and user experience was nice, but the overall value wasn't so great. The price drop announced today definitely makes it easier to recommend it over Apple's other 13-inch notebook options in many cases.


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Butcher shops have never been the type of store one cares to linger in any longer than necessary to do one's shopping, but that has suddenly changed! Having heard so much about Joey Allaham's brand new venture, I felt compelled to visit his Prime Butcher Baker (1572 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10028 – Tel: 212.616.1502) this past Thursday afternoon. Clean, very upscale looking, competitively priced, it offers everything you need for a take out or do it yourself meal, except for fruits and vegetables.
This 3000 square ft. establishment combines a meat aging room (facing the street), a full butcher shop with fresh and aged meats, salads, prepared Ashkenazi and Sephardic dishes (cooked to perfection!), a bakery and freezer shelves laden with soups, sushi, sauces, salads and more! Above all, the staff is courteous, knowledgeable and very helpful with hints and full explanations on what and how to cook.
Meat is tastefully presented, in fact, just looking at it makes your mouth water as you envision the possibilities…
As for the bakery… let me warn you! If you are a cake lover, or an unrepentant chocoholic like I am, you are for a incredible feast for both your eyes and your palate…
Prime Hospitality Group's Corporate Chef David Kolotkin repeats his stellar performance at Prime Grill, by preparing Ashkenazic cuisine favorites. Chef Souad Nigri, a Lebanese caterer prepares the Sephardi delicacies (her Lahmadjine is incredible!); Chef Makoto – from Prime Ko – makes the sushi and the Japanese dishes; Solo's Pastry Chef Felenciana, makes the most decadent, tempting looking, succulent confections adorning the bakery showcase. If you want a butcher shop like you've never seen before, Prime Butcher Baker is the place to go to; if you want a bakery like you've never seen or tasted before Prime Butcher Baker is the place to go to!
What are you waiting for?!?


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MeetScoresOnline welcomes k-Bee Leotards as our official leo sponsor! Together, we will bring you exclusive offers, specials, free giveaways and more!
Head on over to k-Bee Leotards for a special discount! Use discount code MSOkBee.
2023 Salute Invitational
Hosted By: Top Notch Training Center
Facility: Top Notch Training Center
Located: Peachtree Corners, GA
This event is not broadcasting LiveTV. Contact the event host and request that they broadcast their event to MSOLiveTV.


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Dennis Robaugh: We've been sold on sexy for a long, long time
Unless you're utterly cut off from pop culture, commerce and electronic media, you're inundated with sexed-up messages designed to entice you into a commercial liaison.
You can wake to the Howard Stern radio show, replete with a regular guest list of porn stars and nympho wannabes.
Turn on the TV for the morning weather report. If you hit the right station, you'll hear talk of high temps and low pressure systems from a flirty weather bunny.
On the drive to work, any number of mostly naked women will beckon to you from billboards along the highway. Click through your e-mail and dozens of raunchy mass e-mails for porn, sexy foreign brides or male "enhancements" will fill your inbox.
Thumb through the sports pages over lunch, at least in Chicago, and you'll come upon ads for strip clubs, escort services and gratuitous swimsuit photos.
Stop at the 7-Eleven for a Big Gulp, and you face a dizzying array of colorful smutty mags behind the counter.
Looking for a workout? Look no further than Flirty Girl Fitness, a new Chicago exercise featuring the hot new pole-dancing craze.
Turn on the E! channel for an evening of TV viewing and you can watch the "True Hollywood Story" of Jenna Jameson, star of erotic films, or see Hugh Hefner's blonde trio of girlfriends cavort merrily on "The Girls Next Door." Stay up too late, and a Girls Gone Wild infomercial will certainly wake you up (get two DVDs, including the all-new College Girls Gone Wild, for just $9.99).
Various news outlets and authors in recent years have tried to put into perspective the trend toward a sexed up society. Porn has gone soft around the edges. "Porn is on a pop pedestal," according to BrandNoise, a blog for those in the marketing game, and adult-film actresses are mainstreaming into pop culture. Sexy isn't dirty. The latest piece on the matter, from The Associated Press, suggests "the pervasiveness of porn has made sexiness - from subtle to raunchy - a much-sought-after attribute online, at school and even at work."
As a commerce-based culture, much of this rampant sexiness is driven by the advertising media. You may think you remember a time when sex was missing from our sales pitches - but you'd be wrong.
And you'll be interested to know, the allure of sexual marketing was stoked almost 100 years ago by a woman.
But first, let's consider the very unsexy Ben Franklin.
He was among the first to change the nature of advertising in budding America. Ever the originator, our beloved revolutionary, politician, philosopher, inventor and publisher put advertisements - simple explanatory text - next to editorial copy in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette.
For about 100 years after Franklin, little changed in advertising.
But the rise of mass production spawned new efforts to motivate customers. As the 1800s closed, cigarette makers started to use sexual imagery - they put naked women on their packages. At the turn of the century, the growth of early department stores prompted zealous mass-market advertising.
That, in turn, begot the ad agencies.
One such agency, J. Walter Thompson, employed a woman named Helen Lansdowne.
Among the firm's clients was the Andrew Jergens Co., which had bought a product called Woodbury's Facial Soap in 1901. Its package featured the visage of Dr. John Woodbury, a dermatologist, who invented the soap.
Woodbury looked a bit like a monkey.
His soap didn't sell too well.
Eventually, Lansdowne came up with a slogan for an ad campaign: "A Skin You Love to Touch." The ads in the Ladies' Home Journal featured paintings of elegant ladies posed romantically with admiring men who looked over them with an obvious longing.
Soap sales took off.
Advertising historians, according to the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, call this suffragette's ad campaign the first to use sex appeal as a sales pitch.
Lansdowne and the women she hired defied the gender roles of the time. With no small irony, they can be credited with setting in motion the salesmanship that's come into full fleshy bloom we see today.
Advertising is designed not just to inform but to influence behavior, to compel you to buy something or switch brands. It should come as no surprise to anyone that our ultra-commercialized culture - Super Bowl ads are highly anticipated "entertainment" now, for mercy's sake - exerts influence well beyond consumer behavior.
Lifestyles are being patterned on the sexual exhibitionism now dominating our ad media.
And we're all buying.


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For the latest updates to Global Public Square, including show information and Fareed's Take, visit the new GPS site on CNN.com.
W h a t
STFU already.
I don't mind you so much for stealing my name but let's keep Pres. Putin out of it. shall we? For the record and as the true Joey Isotta-Fraschini here, I deeply admire Vladimir Putin.
Ha ha.
To the people of the United States of America :
I just ate a box of Oreo cookies. With the exception of 9 cookies, I ate the whole package. May God forgive me.
@ rupert, there is nothing sinful about eating an entire box of cookies. However, your choice of Oreo cookies was not PC.
Try to be more sensitive.
Thank you.
Get off of it. You're not the true Joey Isotta-Fraschini anyway and quit using his name, will you?
More sensitive. Ok. I will.
I lied. There were no "9 cookies left." I ate the whole thing.
You pig!
So like isn't Iran in the axis of evil .. i guess the George Bush doctrine has expired.
Billy Jean is not my lover
Billy jean is not my lover
Go Michael!
I have anorexia
"Silence of the Lamb," 1991, starring Jodie Foster.
Jodie Foster sleeps with me. She is beautiful and so tight. We eat Cheetos after s.e.x.
@ rupert. Come to bed honey. I want u. I got a bag of Cheetos for later...
Whoever posted the above should feel ashamed of using my name. From now on, I want this stopped. Thank you.
That's telling him, Jodie. I bet it's the same jerk who keeps on stealing my name.
"Keeps on?"
Pas Joey, certainement.
I hope a big space rock hits earth tomorrow and we all die.
I hope all water on the planet gets that brain eating bacteria and we all die.
I hope WWIII begins tomorrow and we all die from radiation.
I hope the dinasaours come back and kill us all.
I hope this planet gets invaded by vicious aliens and they kill and eat us all.
I hope all the trees in the world catch Bacterial Wetwood so that we all run out of oxygen and DIE!
I hope our sun expands and vaporizes all life on earth.
As for the asteroid that missed earth yesterday, I hope that next time it doesn't miss and we all die like the dinasaours did.
Dinasaours....like they did?
Oh, @ Demon Chick...such language!
Dinasaours...uh, are they similar to Whisky Sours? Whiskey Sours?
Hello everybody, I'm Dale Cox the Louisiana Attorney General and I was on 60 Minutes last night. Did any of you see me speak? I hope since it's my claim to fame.
Buddy Calwell is Attorney General of Louisiana...dipshit.
My apologies, Buddy. I am so delusional and such a total drunken sociopath that I cannot think straight anymore. I am so friggin' sorry but not for putting innocent people on death row!
I hope an air borne disease enters our atmosphere, contaminants all oxygen on the planet and we All DIE!
Be careful of what you wish for.
I hope that President Obama and President Puttin have a serious problem with one another and began a nuclear war so we can all DIE!
Oh please, I don't wanna die! I just want to put more innocent guys on death row so they can die! Oh please, oh please!
So we all will die sooner or later. Besides, you're a disgrace to the state of Louisiana I don't how you had the nerve to appear on 60 Minutes Sunday night. If I were you, I'd find some hole in the wall and hide.
I hope Satan comes to earth and burns us all to a crisp so we can all ...
I hope the world's army ants get a mutant development and grow as large as dogs so they can KILL US ALL!
I hope that geological events lead to massive world wide earth quakes under the earth's oceans so that tsunamis hit every corner of the earth and WE ALL DIE!
If I ever get elected, we won't need those things you mentioned above. I'l just start WW III!
I hope the sun becomes a white dwarf and we all freeze TO DEATH AND DIE!
I hope the black hole at the center of our galaxy gravitates all matter toward it and sucks up our solar system and WE ALL DIE!
Aww put a cork in it Demon Chick.
Bayor Aspirin is a slow poison intended as an experiment by our federal government. Americans are being used as test subjects for this research. The results are still being analyzed.


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By Stephen Ohlemacher
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- If you didn't bother filing a federal tax return for 2009, it might be a good time to rethink your tax strategy.
The Internal Revenue Service says it has $917 million in unclaimed tax refunds from 2009, and time is running out to claim them.
The refunds are owed to nearly 1 million people who failed to file returns for 2009. Taxpayers must file their 2009 returns by April 15 to claim their refunds. If taxpayers don't file returns, the law says they have a three-year window to claim refunds. After that, the money becomes property of the U.S. Treasury.
The IRS says there is no penalty for filing a late return that qualifies for a refund. But the agency says refunds may be delayed if taxpayers also failed to file returns for 2010 and 2011.
The government can also withhold tax refunds to settle unpaid federal and state taxes, as well as unpaid child support and past due student loans.
People in every state and the District of Columbia are owed refunds, including 100,700 people in California and 86,000 people in Texas, the IRS said. Most of the refunds exceed $500.
Some people may not have filed tax returns because they made too little money and weren't required to file, the IRS said. However, if they had federal income taxes withheld from their pay, those people may be entitled to refunds.
Also, many low- and middle-income people who didn't file returns may be missing out on the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 2009, a married couple with three or more children could earn up to $48,279 and qualify for the credit. Income thresholds are lower for couples and single filers with fewer children.
Unclaimed refunds by state: http://tinyurl.com/atk4kd7.
Published: Mon, Mar 25, 2013


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One school of thought has it that inner-city trees and shrubs make convenient hiding places and covered escape routes for criminals. Another, supported by an increasing body of evidence, argues that urban foliage may actually reduce crime. Where previous studies have tended to focus on individual housing blocks or, at best, neighborhoods, new research out of Temple University is among the first to examine the issue at the city-scale. TU researchers analyzed the relationship between vegetation concentration and crime for the whole of Philadelphia.
The researchers broke the city down into 363 "tracts" identified from socioeconomic census data, each containing between 100 and 8,000 people. The data, taken from the years 2005 to 2009, was also used to assess poverty and education levels in these tracts. Vegetation coverage was assessed from satellite imagery from 2005, courtesy of NASA's Landsat 7. Recorded incidents of aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, and theft were drawn from the University of Pennsylvania's Neighborhood Information System CrimeBase, also for the year 2005.
Theft, just to be clear, is the illegal act of taking something without permission. Robbery is the same, but with violence (or the threat of it). Burglary is breaking into a building in order to a commit crime (often, but not necessarily, theft or robbery.) The researchers ignored incidents of murder and rape on the grounds that their relative rarity renders the comparison senseless at tract level.
The team undertook a series of statistical analyses of the data, including multivariate ordinary least squares regression. This allowed them to test the "explanatory power" of foliage on crime while controlling for other influences on it, like population density, poverty, and education. Other techniques allowed for the control of the spatial contagion of crime.
A visual assessment of the data confirmed a negative correlation between vegetation and crime (i.e. the more vegetation in an area, the fewer incidents of crime there tend to be), and the statistics bear this out. "Notably, vegetation is significantly and negatively correlated with all of the crime variables, with the exception of thefts," the study finds. "As vegetation increases, aggravated assaults, robberies, and burglaries decrease."
Unsurprisingly, the greenest parts of the city tend to be home to wealthy and educated people. Controlling for these other potential causes, however, the researchers found that the correlation stands. "[V]egetation has a significant and negative relationship with all three types of crime, even after accounting for poverty, educational attainment, and population density," the study finds. (Note: the three crimes excluded theft due to the lack of significant correlation to begin with.)
Let brotherly love endure
By way of explanation, the researchers echo hypotheses from prior studies. There are two arguments. The first is that more vegetation promotes the use of public space, leading to more "social supervision" and surveillance. Social supervision, in essence, is the idea that people are more likely to establish beneficial relationships with positive, crime-deterring role models. Increased surveillance, meanwhile, does not imply the proliferation of CCTV. This is simply a reference to more users of a space bringing more eyes to the street. The theory: ne'er-do-wells don't like being observed when ne'er-do-welling.
The second argument is that vegetation provides a "mentally restorative effect" that can reduce violent crime. The implication is not so much that a glimpse of hydrangea will deter a violent criminal in the act, but that the presence of vegetation reduces mental fatigue and irritability, which can be the precursors to violent crime. The authors admit that such benefits are difficult to quantify, but their results would seem to support this idea. The negative correlation between vegetation and crime was stronger for incidents of robbery and aggravated assault.
Chief among the limitations of the study was the means by which vegetation was identified, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). NDVI involves assessing satellite data for the quality and health of vegetation by comparing reflected light and reflected near-infrared radiation (plants absorb most of the former but little of the latter). Though the method can distinguish trees from lawns and shrubs, it cannot distinguish between specific types of vegetation, tree crown area, or the upkeep of the vegetation.
This can be a problem, as the authors suggest that overgrown abandoned lots broadcast a lack of social control that will encourage crime. Neither does the study distinguish between public and private property, which other research has found to be relevant.
There will be other contributory factors overlooked in this research, the authors point out. These may include demographic, cultural, and urban morphological factors (such as the age of a building or its proximity to a transport hub). Though nothing on this list, they suggest, prompts an obvious alternative explanation for the relationship of crime with vegetation.
The authors also point out that the study cannot rule out the possibility that vegetation is displacing crime rather than reducing it. To assess this would require monitoring changes in crime and vegetation over time. That's impossible with the data they had, but it's an avenue of future research.
This latest study adds to the mounting evidence that there is a clear negative correlation between urban vegetation and crime. What it does not do, beyond doubt, is prove causation. Though the team has attempted to control for other causal factors, there remains the distinct possibility that vegetation is a proxy and some as-yet unidentified variable is the actual cause.
Nevertheless, this is an area of research city planners and police departments would do well to monitor. Vegetation is sometimes removed in efforts to curb crime. It may yet prove that the opposite policy is more effective.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2012. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.08.006 (About DOIs).


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Twenty-three years later, he's back at it. This time his call is grounded in a real life battle.
With 39 days till the election on Nov. 6, we all need to do our part to ensure a free and fair outcome. There are forces out there that are using every means at their disposal to suppress the vote. We must use every means necessary to make sure they don't prevail.
Jackson makes the case as only he can. As Sam might say, let's keep the %^&* snakes out of the *&^% White House.


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[nggallery id=172]
Skylar and I have had our disagreements over some things, but if you cut through all the other stuff she is a very good basketball player and a pretty young lady.
I do think though she needs to understand as the great Ben Parker said with Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility. You have be able to handle the attention that is being thrust on you and can not be overly sensitive to critical or even humorous comments.
It is the gift and the curse of being an attractive female athlete.
She handles these questions about male groupies and Lil Wayne pretty well.


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Manga And Anime Squad
Wed 15 March at 3:45 pm - 5:45 pmFree entry
Calling all anime, manga, and cosplay fans!
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On that post, I listed the names of the Schoffman children (including married names) and birth/death dates.
It wasn't the most exciting post, but it had a purpose. I hoped that at some point, someone somewhere would poke around the Internet for the Schoffman family. Maybe one of the people I mentioned was their ancestor. And maybe they'd have some information to share with me.
These types of posts are called "cousin bait" because you're fishing for cousins so you can compare information for your respective family trees.
Four months later, I'm happy to say that I snagged a big one on the Schoffman family trotline. Kind blog reader Eric recently left a comment on the original post and a link to a cemetery walk video featuring the story of George Schoffman, my first cousin three times removed.
Eric was also kind enough to send me ten images of obituaries and news articles, as well as a 5-page outline of Schoffman family history and facts.
Here's what I reeled in:
That fabulous 5-page outline as a Word document.
A newspaper photo of a 1914 picnic given by Schoffman
Photos of the William and Mary Schoffman residence
A 1926 invoice from Schoffman Brothers general merchandise
Article about Frank and Mary Schoffman's family's historic homes
Obituary for Frank Schoffman
Obituary for William F. Schoffman
Obituary for (with photo) Mary Lenertz Schoffman - SCORE!
Obituary for Rose Schoffman Heiertz
Obituary for George Schoffman
Obituary for Nellie Griebel Schoffman (George's wife)
Obituary for Mildred Lake Schoffman (William's wife)
Not bad day o' fishing, huh?
So you see folks, this is why I blog. It has been an essential tool in furthering my own family history research.
There are those who don't like the concept of blogging. It's not professional like *real* genealogical writing. There are also those that think that blogging is too hard (it's not), or not worth the effort.
To all y'all I ask this question, pulled from a classic award-winning movie:
Do you like apples?
Well thanks to this genealogy blog, I just scored a photo of my great-great grandfather's sister. How do you like them apples?
Blogging gets results, people.


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Alyssa Rodemeyer tells Anderson Cooper that her brother's bullies shouted "we're glad you're dead" at a homecoming dance just days after he took his own life.
Filed under: Bullying
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
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Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°


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May 12th, 2011
Who are you fantasizing about during sex?
Ian Kerner, a sexuality counselor and New York Times best-selling author, blogs about sex on Thursdays on The Chart. Read more from him at his website, GoodInBed.
Tell the truth (or rather, think the truth): have you ever fantasized during sex about someone other than the person you're actually having sex with? Perhaps there's a particular celebrity that turns you on, or a former flame, or even (heaven forbid) a brother or sister-in-law?
Do taboo thoughts make their way into your most intimate real-life moments? If so, take a deep breath and relax. You're not alone, in fact you're probably in the majority. In one study published by The Journal of Sex Research, 98% of partnered men and 80% of partnered women said that they had fantasized about someone other than their partner during sex in the previous two months. Whew!
CNNHealth's sex expert blogger Ian Kerner stops by to talk about the rise in women using porn on HLN's The Joy Behar Show, Thursday, 9 p.m. ET
The truth is, a healthy fantasy life is one of the keys to a great sex life - even when your partner might not always play the leading role. Most people find that they are most sexually satisfied when they are intimate with one person with whom they feel completely comfortable.
Along with this intimacy comes the freedom to let go and explore, including fantasizing about other people, places, and situations. In one study on sexual fantasy by noted expert Dr. Harold Leitenberg it was concluded that sexual fantasies occur most often in people with the highest sexual satisfaction and the healthiest sex lives. So your fantasies aren't an indication that something is wrong, but rather that something is right.
Fantasies play a valuable role in our sex-lives. First off, they fuel arousal: "Thoughts can create real physical changes in your body, and you can use this to your advantage," writes sex educator Emily Nagoski in the Good in Bed Guide to Female Orgasms. "This is why people fantasize even while they're having sex - the added juice of the fantasy heightens arousal when the physical sensations aren't enough to get us where we want to go."
Fantasies also free the brain to explore secret, extraordinary realms without the obligations of everyday life. Kaye Wellings, a respected British biologist, puts it best in her book, "First Love, First Sex:"
"Fantasies perform a valuable function. Most of us, most of the time, behave conservatively, sexually and otherwise. Our erotic experiences represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of possibilities. Many possibilities only see the light of day through fantasies or dreams, seldom as reality."
And says Good in Bed expert Ann Potter, "I like to imagine that fantasizing is like putting training wheels on my desires - those desires that are maybe a little too 'out there' for me or my partner to get on board with acting out right away, or ever."
And when it comes to fantasies, adults do just fine with a permanent set of training wheels, and needn't bother with graduating to a two-wheeler. The brain is the biggest sex organ and a little fantasizing goes a long way.
So rather than resist your fantasies, let yourself enjoy them. Trying to suppress fantasies may end up doing more harm than good. In the mid-1980s, Dr. Daniel Wegner at the University of Virginia studied the menchanics of thought-suppression in an experiment known as the "white bear study." Wegner sat people in a room with a tape recorder and told them to say whatever came to mind, with one exception: Don't think about a white bear. No surprise, people mentioned the bear constantly. The more they tried not to think about it, the more they mentioned it.
By suppressing a forbidden thought the brain never gets a chance to fully process that thought, and what could just be an innocent fantasy suddenly becomes a guilt-laden white bear that won't go away. Most of the time it's not our fantasies that are the problem, but rather our reactions to our fantasies - the feelings of shame and guilt, as well as our anxieties and fears about what those fantasies might really mean.
But fantasies are meant to be enjoyed and if they weren't taboo, well then they wouldn't be fantasies to begin with.
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.


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October has been rumored to be the month when we'll get to see Apple's answer to the low-cost, 7-inch Android tablets from the likes of Amazon and Google. Dubbed "iPad mini," the device is expected to cost between $249 and $299, and will largely be geared toward educational markets and cost-conscious consumers who have yet to be enticed by the $399 entry-point for the 10-inch iPad 2.
We don't know for sure when Apple will unveil the device to the public, but the sheer number of rumors and purported parts leaks suggest the device is real—and is coming soon. Here's a quick review of what the device might be like.
The standard iPad sports a 9.7-inch diagonal, 4:3 aspect ratio screen. The iPad mini is widely rumored to maintain that same 4:3 aspect ratio, merely shrinking it down to 7.85 inches in size. That should result in a device that is approximately 35 percent smaller than the iPad overall, and presumably 35 percent lighter, too.
7-inch Android tablets have largely adopted a 16:9 aspect ratio screen. While the iPhone 5 has adopted this same aspect ratio by slightly extending the vertical pixel count over the iPhone 4 and 4S, it seems more likely that Apple will maintain the 4:3 aspect ratio for a smaller iPad, which will greatly simplify things for application developers.
Most analysis of the reduction in screen size suggests it will not be a "Retina" display as on the iPad 3, but rather the same 1024×768 of the original iPad and iPad 2, to keep costs down. Furthermore, it is widely believed that the iPad interface can be shrunk to 7.85 inches without modification, and still maintain the same level of usability.
Back in 2010, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously scoffed at 7-inch tablets as too small to be useful, but Apple SVP of iOS Software Scott Forstall said in August that Jobs had "seemed receptive to the idea" after SVP of Internet Services Eddy Cue suggested that Apple should consider a smaller tablet in early 2011.
Internal hardware
An iPad mini will most likely be powered by the 32nm, lower-power version of the dual-core A5 processor used in the $399 iPad 2 and fifth-generation iPod touch. The iPad 2 has proven performance running with the A5, and the lower power requirements should enable the smaller device to maintain an 8–10 hour battery life. That kind of all-day run time will be particularly important for educational users as iPads are increasingly being integrated into one-to-one technology programs.
The price-busting $199 Google Nexus 7 tablet only comes with 8GB of local storage, but we expect Apple to leverage its long-term NAND flash contracts to include 16GB (Google also sells a 16GB Nexus 7 for $249). Storage will be important for the iPad mini, especially when it comes to loading these devices with interactive textbooks and storing multimedia projects for classwork. Home users will appreciate the added storage for video, audio, and apps.
Apple may offer a 3G/4G-compatible version of the iPad mini, and if so, expect to see the same Qualcomm integrated baseband as the one used in the iPhone 5. However, at these rumored low prices, it seems more likely that the iPad mini will be limited to Wi-Fi only.
The iPad mini will likely feature a FaceTime camera on the front, perhaps even the 720p FaceTime HD camera of more recent iOS devices. On the back, expect the same 5MP autofocus camera currently on the iPad 3, iPhone 4, and fifth-gen iPod touch. Shooting photos and videos has proven to be important for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, so we don't think Apple will skimp here.
Purported images of the rear of the iPad mini have leaked in the past couple days. The device appears to be like a cross between the new fifth-gen iPod touch and the current iPad. On the bottom are two speaker grilles flanking Apple's new Lightning port; on the side, the usual volume buttons and mute switch. On the top, the headphone jack and power switch. The rear casing appears to be all aluminum, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas hidden behind a plastic Apple logo.
Topeka analyst Brian White cited sources within Apple's supply chain suggesting that the iPad mini may even exceed the current iPad 3 in aesthetics. "Apple did not skimp on the aesthetics of the much anticipated 'iPad Mini,'" White told AllThingsD. "In fact, we believe the 'iPad Mini' could outshine the new iPad in terms of how the device feels in a consumer's hands."
Addressing consumer appeal, Gizmodo editor Jesus Diaz argued that Apple may offer the iPad mini in different anodized colors, like the new iPod touch and iPod nano. There haven't been any rumors to this effect—and logistics of offering various colors may eat into what could be already thin profit margins—but we like the idea, too.
Our own Andrew Cunningham suggested that Apple will likely price the iPad mini at $299. That's the exact same price as the new fifth-gen iPod touch, and it seems like the hardware will be largely the same. However, as Andrew noted, the iPod touch is designed to fit in a pocket, whereas an iPad mini serves a different audience. "Apple isn't too worried about a little overlap as long as its products are sufficiently differentiated," he wrote.
Others believe that Apple may push the price down as low as $249 in order to attract price-sensitive buyers and avoid ceding any more market share to the likes of the Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7.
$299 is a great price for the rumored hardware, but $249 is even better. Since the only good business reason to release an iPad mini in today's tablet market is to widen the mass market appeal of the iPad brand, we expect Apple to go as low as it can with the price.
Mass production of the iPad mini has reportedly already begun in earnest, and the Wall Street Journal recently cited sources that claimed Apple has asked suppliers to make "more than 10 million units" in the fourth quarter. As we noted on Monday, that number suggests Apple expects a lower-cost iPad to be a big hit this holiday season.
At the same time, Apple may also release a slightly revised third-generation iPad, leveraging the new, lower-power Qualcomm LTE baseband for improved 4G network compatibility. Apple ran into some regulatory trouble in calling the wireless broadband-capable version the "iPad Wi-Fi + 4G," because the chips only work with North American LTE networks. Using the new Qualcomm chips would improve international compatibility. The revised iPad is also expected to include the new Lightning connector.
We won't know until we know
It should go without saying that none of these details are a lock until Apple actually unveils the device. What is clear, however, is that there appears to be an unusual amount of excitement for a product that Jobs himself didn't think much of only two years ago. Assuming many of the details above are accurate, how many of you plan to trade in your existing tablet for an iPad mini?
Listing image by Martin Hajek


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Kat Von D Obtains Restraining Order Against "Delusional" Fan
Kat Von D may feel just a little bit safer this holiday season.
A judge granted the tattoo artist a temporary restraining order against a fan who has been harassing her on Twitter, TMZ.com reports. Michael Nunn, who had posted her home phone number online, has also been making Von D's life hell in person, showing up at her house in April as well as popping up at a public event in June.
Which shows have been canceled?
According to the restraining order documents, Von D believes Nunn has "delusional and paranoid tendencies, including the belief that the FBI is watching him."
The restraining order will keep Nunn 100 yards away from Von D, and prohibits him from contacting her online.
View original Kat Von D Obtains Restraining Order Against "Delusional" Fan at TVGuide.com
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Retinol is a derivative of vitamin A, making it a milder version of retinoids (a prescription-only wrinkle fighter). While it takes several weeks to see results, retinol is the most effective over-the-counter anti-aging ingredient when it comes to "smoothing wrinkles, unclogging pores, lightening superficial brown spots, and improving the texture of the skin," says Amy Wechsler, New York City dermatologist. Because of retinol's potency, skin irritation is common, especially in direct sunlight. Apply retinol-based products at night on dry skin to avoid sensitivity and be sure to apply a moisturizer with SPF every morning.
If you have dark spots resulting from acne scars, sun damage, or old age, lighten them with niacinamade, a vitamin-B3 derivative that prevents melanin, or pigmentation, from rising to the surface. "It may help to improve the skin's moisture barrier and collagen production, all of which reverses the appearance of sun damage," says Wechsler. Plus, it's known to reduce inflammation, and even acne.
Hyaluronic Acid
Though you probably associate the word "acid" with harsh and abrasive, hyaluronic acid is the exact opposite. It's a humectant, meaning that it draws out water from the air and dermis (the skin that lies below the surface). Look for a lotion that contains hyaluronic acid, "which can add to the moisturizer's hydrating qualities, and may even spur new collagen production," says Wechsler.
More From Good Housekeeping
Alpha Hydroxy Acids
Unlike hyaluronic acid, alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs for short) are exfoliators that gently dissolve the "glue" that holds surface skin cells together, letting the dead ones slough away to reveal youthful looking skin. This process encourages cell turnover, which typically slows with age. Getting rid of dead skin also lets moisturizers, serums, and skin treatments penetrate the skin and work more effectively. But look for products with no more than 8 percent AHAs. "In high concentrations, AHAs can help fade brown spots and fine wrinkles, but they make skin extra sensitive to the sun," says Wechsler.
L-ascorbic acid
L-ascorbic acid is just a fancy word for "vitamin C." Though vitamin C is a good-for-you ingredient that helps boost the immune system, it's a little more complex when skincare is involved. Think of vitamin C as a wild card — extremely volatile and unstable. "When exposed to air, it undergoes oxidation and becomes ineffective," says Wechsler. When vitamin C is stable and good, it's really good. It's an important antioxidant that helps build collagen, reduce inflammation, and promote elasticity to plump up skin. But how can you tell if vitamin C in a product is stable? Look for "L-ascorbic acid" in the ingredient list.
If there's one skincare product to swear by, it's a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher. Avobenzone is a common chemical ingredient in sunscreen that blocks UVA rays. It's often paired with benzophenone-3 or oxybenzone to shield against UVB rays. For maximum protection, apply a chemical sunscreen directly on skin before serum, lotion, or makeup. Hate the thought of chemicals? Go for a mineral block that contains titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, suggests Wechsler. But because of its chalky texture and shield-like barrier, a mineral block should be applied last, after serum and moisturizer.
Slow down the clock with an antioxidant-packed skin saver. "Antioxidants help prevent and repair damage to your body tissue by encouraging cell growth," says Wechsler. More importantly, they neutralize free radicals (unstable, damaging molecules in your body caused by elements such as sunlight, smoke, and pollution). The most popular antioxidants include vitamins C and E, pomegranate, green tea, and coffeeberry extracts.
Andrea Cheng is a New York-based writer who writes about fashion and beauty. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Glamour, Allure, Fashionista and more. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @andrealeecheng.


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Should I Angle Ice Screws Down?
I heard that ice screws should be angled slightly down to maximize the strength of the threads. If this is true, why don't the threads run the full le...
I heard that ice screws should be angled slightly down to maximize the strength of the threads. If this is true, why don't the threads run the full length of the screw, rather than just the first couple of inches?
Like the existence of life after death or true love, the jury is still out on that one. Limited testing by Chris Harmston of Black Diamond and Craig Luebben about 10 years ago showed that ice screws with the hanger end angled down (negative angle) up to 20 degrees were stronger than screws with the hanger parallel to the ice or angled slightly up (positive angle). A negative angle does not, however, increase the strength of the threads; rather, it decreases the chance that the ice will blow out from under the screw.
A negative-angle placement relies on the gripping power of the threads, which vary among screw designs: more and deeper threads equal more grip (presuming solid ice). A negative placement is stronger because the shaft of the screw cannot lever against and crush the ice beneath it like a bartender making a mojito. When the ice supporting a screw blows out, the shaft bends and the screw fails. There are, of course, other failure modes—in soft, rotten or hollow ice the screw will pop out like a bad cork.
But before you start thinking negatively, know that the caveats to a negative-angle placement are as varied as the ice itself. For instance, how much do you angle the screw down? What is the ice like (rotten surface, air pockets, mushy)? In bomber ice it might be better to angle the screw down or perpendicular to the predicted angle of loading (more guesswork? … Noo!), although just about any screw placement in solid ice is going to be bomber.
The long and short of it is you need Old E (experience, that is … not the stuff quaffed by Valley bums) to be able to safely judge the quality of any ice-screw placement. Since this is as realistic as conducting your own auto- crash tests, use common sense to guide your ice-pro placements (looks like you're a goner).
Other tidbits to glean from Harmston and Luebben's testing are: Use the proper length of screw—tie offs break. And ice hooks don't hold, although I'll still use them as quickie pro to cover me while placing a real screw.
Running threads along the entire length of the screw, like time machines, could be a brilliant idea. Why haven't the manufacturers thought of this? They have, actually. Most screws are or should be designed for optimal placement ease and strength. Running threads the entire length of the screw would mean you'd have more resistance when placing it. Since getting a screw in as quickly as possible is usually your priority, once you're on the sharp end a screw with full-length threads is suddenly going to seem like a shitty idea. Moreover, in solid ice, a screw with full threads isn't going to be stronger than a screw with partial threads because neither is likely to pull out. In poor ice, full threads might increase security simply because they will grip into more ice. Then again, in bad ice you're more likely to be saved by an angel than by a screw. Besides, who falls on ice?
I suggest that instead of staying up at night pondering the merits of screw designs, your time will be better spent on your knees begging the Almighty for divine intervention next time you've got a screw loose out on the business end and it all goes to shit. Next!


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Ask Dr. Norm: It's a dog's teeth's world
Dear Dr. Stillman: Do I need to brush my dog's teeth? — Molly H.
Dear Molly,
Thanks for your question. February is National Pet Dental Health Month, so it's very appropriate. You specifically asked about your dog, but in this case everything I'll tell you will apply equally to a cat as well.
I do encourage folks to brush their pets' teeth, but there's more than one way to try to promote good dental health and prevent the onset of dental decay and periodontal disease. As I'm sure you know, the reason that we brush our pets' teeth (or our own) is to temporarily remove the layer of disease-causing bacteria that inhabit our mouths and build up on the surface of our teeth in a film called the pellicle. These bacteria, if left to their own devices, excrete chemicals that break down the surface of the tooth causing pitting and decay. If we brush frequently and thoroughly enough we can almost indefinitely delay the onset of dental disease.
Tartar is a mixture of bacteria and the minerals that they form into a porous framework designed to protect and shelter them. As tartar accumulates it spreads along the tooth, working its way in between the tooth and its bony socket and destroying the soft tissue attachment (called the periodontal ligament), which holds the tooth in place and prevents it from moving. When the tartar has disrupted enough of this attachment the tooth becomes loose, and not long after that it may even fall out. The process is painful and may lead to swollen and inflamed gums.
Additionally, the mouth is an unusual area of the body in that it contains both an active bacterial population and a very strong blood supply. It is vital for our pets' health that the bacteria not be allowed to enter the bloodstream, so normally the body presents several elaborate and highly effective barriers to their passage out of the oral cavity and into circulation. When the gums become inflamed these barriers begin to break down, allowing bacteria to enter the bloodstream. Purifying organs like the kidneys and liver filter the bacteria back out again but in the process may become damaged and infected themselves. In animals as well as in humans severe periodontal disease is one of the strongest risk factors for the development of liver and kidney infections.
Now, back to your question. Brushing a pet's teeth disrupts the above processes and makes the bacteria start daily from scratch. It's the most useful way to permanently delay the onset of periodontal disease and tooth decay. However, even the most ardent advocate of pet tooth brushing will readily admit that if you're not doing it on a daily basis it's not very useful. Doing it once or twice a week, or less, does not significantly slow the progression of disease. Not every pet (including my own cats and dog) will allow you to brush its teeth. For those pets there are other options.
Several manufacturers make prescription dental diets. I feed my own cats and dog the feline and canine versions respectively. These diets, designed to remove dental tartar and prevent it from reaccumulating, are not as effective as tooth brushing but are still very good. I strongly recommend these diets and find them very useful in the prevention of dental disease. They are cost-effective, tasty and nutritionally complete, and perform a very important and useful function.
Lastly, for pets that will not allow tooth brushing and for whom dental diets are not a good alternative, there is always the option of periodic dental cleanings. This procedure involves a brief period of anesthesia during which a pet's teeth are careful cleaned above and below the gumline and then polished back to a glassy sheen. Diseased or damaged teeth may be removed. This is my least favorite means of addressing dental disease, since it treats disease that is already present instead of preventing it from occurring.
In summary, I applaud your efforts to brush your pets' teeth on a daily basis. If that's not possible you should discuss alternative ways of preventing or treating dental disease in your four legged companions.
Dr. Norm Stillman is a veterinarian at the Court Street Animal Hospital, located at 136 Court St. in Plymouth, Mass. He can be reached by phone at 508-747-0774 or by email at firstname.lastname@example.com.